Frankenstein-article - miniaturefootball.org

Frankenstein
Monster Mashing Your Bases for Optimum Performance!!
by Joe Allore
i
In miniature football, coaches have
learned to tweak the prongs under the
bases to make them faster, stronger,
straighter, or even to perform a precise
arc or pattern to execute on a specific
play. Taking it a step further, coaches have also been known to mix and
match the dials of bases in order to
get the optimal performance. A great
example of this is replacing the wimpy
front prongs on the Miggle TTC dial
with that of the Miggle Pro line dial in
order to get more sturdy front prongs
(see picture 1). In this case, the thicker
and sturdier Proline dial prongs can
be used to tweak for more strength or
simply to support the weight of a foreword leaning figure.
Taking this art form one step further
is a unique method of base creation
called the “Frankenstein” base. A
Frankenstein base is actually a
combination of multiple bases,
usually the outer shell of one
base with the inner portion of
another base glued underneath.
Why would somebody want to go to
all that effort to try to glue one base
under another? Well, it’s simple. In the
creative world of miniature football,
it’s often the savvy coach who knows
best how to actually devise a base to
perform a certain task better than the
regular intended design. Therefore, the
coach takes the benefits of one base
and combines it with the benefits of
other bases in order to maximize performance. Whether it is to create more
ME WANT MORE
BETTER BASE!
realism, or to try to create a highly competitive team, miniature football is full
of coaches who will experiment with the
bases to make them perform like magic
on the electric gridiron.
The most common example of a Fran-
kenstein base is to take the shell of an
old Coleco or Monroe base and glue in
a Tudor rookie or Buzzball speed base
underneath (pictures 2 and 3). These old
shells are often refereed to in the miniature football world as “boat bases”
or “arrow” bases because some think
the shell is shaped like a hull of a boat
or the tip of an arrow. The Munroe and
Coleco shells are also considered oversized compared to the current length
and with standards of today. When
in action, the tapered front shapes on
these bases allow them to slip past the
usual “straight” or “semi-rounded” surface of the traditional bases currently
produced. In addition, the wider than
normal shell makes the figure on this
base more difficult to grab because the
figure is further away from the edge of
the base.
For these two reasons, the boat
bases are considered to be excellent receiver bases. However,
since the boat and arrow bases
are no longer in production, these
bases are often considered controversial since they can lead to a clear
competitive advantage, but can be
hard to find for many. In fact, the supply and demand inequality of these arrow bases has led to easily $5 a base
for these old timers. In addition to the
Munroe and Coleco bases, the Miggle
“bullet bases” are often used as well.
These bases were produced by Miggle
for only a limited time in the early to
mid 2000s and appear to be slightly
1
2
3
Miggle TTC Shell outfitted with a Proline Dial
Coleco shell (left) ready to accept a smaller base
(right) inside of it’s shell.
Coleco shell with a Buzzball base glued “under the
hood”.
more plentiful. These bases have a full
round “bullet” shaped front surface and
are longer than bases in mass production right now. (see picture 4) They are
the same width as current bases so this
makes them more accepted as well.
These bases actually have very thin
prongs that can be tweaked for great
speed and also have a slot for a TTC
dial where a Proline dial is a great upgrade, so creating a Frankenstein base
with these is not always necessary.
can create a Frankenstein base. The most
common practice is to place the Tudor
rookie or Buzzball rookie bases under
the large boat base shells for two reasons, (1) they are small and they easily
fit, and (2) because these rookie bases
can be made very fast which is an excellent characteristic of a receiver base
that can slip past a defender. Other examples of what to put under the hood is
a trimmed down pro line base (picture 5
- Miggle Bullet pictured), trimmed down
Buzzball DDB dials, and Proline TTC dials (picture 6).
gal. Another consideration is that many
3.3 gram traditional leagues play with
a max weight of 2.0 grams per figure
and 1.3grams per base. Since Frankenstein bases will invariably come in
heavier than traditional manufactured
bases, you will most likely see these custom bases played only in 4.0 gram (total weight) leagues where customization
of figures and bases tends to be almost
the norm.
Now, what to put “under the hood” is
up to the coach’s imaginations. Since the
Munroe and Coleco bases don’t have
prongs that are considered to perform
very well, the coach wanting to benefit
from the Munroe or Coleco shell design
Miggle Bullet Shell fitted with a Buzzball DDB Dial.
4
Very often, leagues who allow Frankenstein bases allow no manipulation of the
outer shell of the base, where only tinkering under the hood is considered le-
On the following page is a picture of
various bases (picture 7) along with a
chart of the width, length, height, and
weight of these bases for reference.
JA
Miggle Bullet Shell fitted with Proline Speed Rookie Prongs.
5
Munroe Arrow Shell (left) featuring a Proline dial and rear prongs from the base at its left. Another Munroe Arrow Shell (right) shown with a Buzzball DDB dial and rear prongs.
6
7
Pictured from Left to Right: Gotham Full Round, Coleco Arrow, Munroe Arrow, Miggle TTC Bullet, Miggle Bullet, Miggle Proline Rookie Strong, Buzzball DDB, Miggle TTC, Miggle
Rookie, Buzzball Speed
Length
Front Corner Radius
Width
(g)
Co
nt
Fro
We
ig
2000
16.9
26.8
5.8
9.0
Semi-Round
15
0.50
1.10
Miggle Proline Strong Rookie Square
2000
17.4
27.0
5.8
9.0
Flat
-
0.50
1.00
Miggle Proline Strong Rookie Rounded 2000
17.4
26.9
6.0
9.0
Semi-Round
18
0.50
1.00
Miggle Proline Speed Rookie Rounded 2000
17.1
26.9
5.6
8.7
Semi-Round
21
0.50
0.90
Miggle Bullet TTC
2000
17.8
31.4
6.1
8.6
Full Round
8.9
-
1.40
Miggle Bullet Rookie
2000
17.4
30.8
6.1
8.5
Full Round
8.7
-
1.30
F5 Kansas Bill
2000
17.5
27.8
6.1
8.7
Semi-Round
24
1.20
1.20
Buzzball DDB
2000
17.5
27.3
6.2
10.1
Semi-Round
35
0.25
1.30
Tudor Rookie
1990
16.0
25.3
6.0
7.7
Flat
-
4.00
0.80
Tudor Red Peg
1990
16.0
25.3
6.0
7.7
Flat
-
4.00
0.90
Miggle TTC
1990
17.5
27.7
6.0
7.8
Semi-Round
22
1.00
1.20
Miggle Rookie
1990
16.3
27.3
6.2
7.6
Semi-Round
17
3.00
0.80
Buzzball Speed
1990
16.0
25.3
5.5
7.7
Flat
-
4.00
0.70
Tudor TTC
1960
17.2
27.4
6.2
8.2
Semi-Round
21
1.00
1.20
Munroe Arrow Base (4 way multi-dial) 1960
18.5
32.0
6.4
8.2
Arrow
5
-
1.30
Gotham
1960
22.0
29.5
4.5
6.7
Full Round
11
-
0.90
Coleco Arrow Shell
1960
18.5
32.5
6.2
8.0
Arrow
7
-
1.00
Fro
Fro
nt
nt
ht
rne
ius
Typ
Ra
d
e
/Pr
tw
igh
He
He
Sh
Miggle Proline Strong TTC Rounded
ell
Len
gth
Wi
dth
Base
De
cad
eM
igh
t
ad
e
on
gs
rR
ad
ius
Full Height
w/Prongs
Shell
Height
Front Radius